Aeternus Isles: Labyrinth of the Sky (INDEFINITELY PAUSED)
by Psycho Feline
Summary: After waking up in a strange place with four other Pokemon she's never met, Siku and co. must travel a mystical, surreal dreamland in order to find out what happened to them and why they're together. This is my first "Submit a Character" story, so please don't pelt me with a bag of rocks. I'll do my best, and hopefully get better as the story progresses.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

* * *

Somewhere, in a small, cramped space, a sharp moan is let out, abruptly ending as soon as it had started. For a few seconds after, the silence from before resumed. The atmosphere seemed to change during those few moments, becoming much more still—a minute becomes an hour in the minds of anyone in the vicinity. Then, suddenly, the cry is sounded again, followed by the scratching sound of claws meeting stone, and time starts to tick again. A voice filled with a mix of confusion and disgruntlement sliced through the air, showing no sigh of pleasure in their situation.

"W... where am I? In some sort of... compartment? Made of stone, it would seem. I can even feel carvings in the walls. I can't tell if I'm above or below ground, though. I can't... I can't remember what I was doing, but... there was chaos. That part I remember. Utter destruction. What happened? My mind, it's too foggy. Guh..." A still groggy Weavile struggled to stand in her rocky tomb. As she floundered around she was surprised to feel the touch of a warm body uncomfortably close to her bubble of space, but her mind raced with too many other thoughts for her to really take notice. Instead she was too busy executing an awkward combination of gaining her whereabouts and trying to feel he way around, all the while only half awake. The end result was a rather comedic scene, though it was anything but in the eyes of the Weavile. Her breathe had started to quicken, and panic rose in her throat like bile. Her initial exasperation was slowly turning to fear as thoughts of her end began to overtake her. Was it the end for Siku? Or was a far more different fate lain before her?

* * *

_Okay, so I've seen "submit a character" stories before, but never have I participated or contributed to one, let alone make one. So I decided to try it out as a new experience, and maybe do more in the future. I really hope I'm doing this right, and I'm sorry if I'm not. Anyways, the story will kind of roll out as it goes on (I'm really pulling the plot out of my butt as ideas come to me) so the exposition was sorta vague by default. Regardless, here are the character forums. I'll be accepting four more characters to go with Siku, so there'll be a total of five in the end._

_The idea as a whole is that there are five Pokemon with no relation to each other, but can't seem to remember what they were doing last before winding up in a small, cramped stone room with each other, other than that there was massive destruction and they were somehow spared._

**Name:**

**Gender:**

**Species: **(No uber-legends, however, minor legends such as Mew etc. _are_ allowed)

**Extra appearance: **(Don't go nuts, guys. Minor scars/accessories and such are allowed, but no weird things like a blue Pikachu or something of that sort. And it's okay to be normal. You don't necessarily have to wear a rainbow scarf or whatever)

**Ability: **(One please)

**Moves: **(Four slot limit)

**Personality: **(Required. Must also be three sentences or longer)

**History: **(Not required, but if left blank I'll make something up during the story)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

* * *

"Oh no. No, no,_ no! _This isn't good. This is _not_ good!" Siku was in a literal cold sweat, the moisture forming tiny beads of ice on her face. She started to scrabble madly at the wall, faster and quicker than before. Her claws certainly made a fair amount of noise, but other than that, were hardly making a dent in the stone walls that faced her. She was near hyperventilating, her breathe coming in rapid, short rasps. All her life she had lived in a cave, so it shouldn't have been such a terrifying experience for her, but it was different this time: the walls were too flat and uniform, and there was another body in the room, maybe more. It was the reason people had claustrophobia, she realized. Who knew the fear she'd considered so irrational could turn out to be her very own worst nightmare? Irony in it's worst form, and yet it was funny in a morbid sort of way considering Siku's situation.

"Hey! Who's making all that... wait. What's going on?" Someone suddenly blurted out. "I can't see! Is this someone's idea of a joke, because I'm not laughing." She immediately stopped, turning to the source of the noise. Lightly kicking the warm mass the lay at her feet, she concluded that she had been right about there being more than one other person trapped with her in the tiny stone compartment.

"No, no it's not!" She said quickly. "Oh Palkia, I'm so glad you're alive and I'm not surrounded by dead bodies. Oh wow, I must sound crazy saying that, but I'm serious. I know you can't see, but feel around." There was a short pause, then the voice replied,

"You're right, there's someone sleeping like a log right next to me. They feel small and furry." Siku bent down and prodded her own neighbor. They had smooth, semi-cold skin, which confirmed a total of four Pokemon in the small stony room. There could be more, but the Weavile didn't think any more than five could fit without suffocating everyone. She started fiddling with the single gold hoop that dangled from her left head feather—a nervous habit of hers—which she thanked had not been ripped out when the assorted bunch had been brought here by whatever means had. Otherwise she would've woken up with a sore ear and an attitude twice as spiteful as normal.

"So then, what's your name?" Siku asked.

"How about yours first, miss? And your species wouldn't hurt to know, either."

She sighed and rolled her eyes, unnoticeable in the dark and thus the point of the gesture was lost anyways, but answered because she was in no mood for that sort of thing at the time. "Siku Ipiktok the Weavile, at your service," she said sarcastically.

"Art," the voice replied. "Art the Mawile."

"Really? Is Art even a name?" Siku said, skeptically crossing her arms.

"Well," Art said with slight hesitation, "it's actually Arthur, but it would be ideal if you just called me Art."

"That's the dumbest name _I_ ever heard," she said in a crude tone. "I find myself preferring Arthur."

"Fine, maybe I'll just call you Ipiktok, then. Would you like that?" Siku weighed her options for a minute at the Mawile's words, wondering if she wanted to be addressed as a K filled mouthful, or if she wanted to address someone else by a common hobby rather than a real name.

"Fine," she said at last, "Art it is. Though I don't really see the reason behind your decision. If it was my choice, _I'd_ go for Arthur. Whatever floats your boat I guess. That aside, I'd like to get down to the real issue here: we are stuck in a tiny, confined space with two complete strangers! In fact, we hardly even know each other, save for our names. Now what do you suggest we do about that?" Her mind was once again focused on the problem at hand, and Siku could feel some of her original panic rising back. Her little distraction was over, and suddenly the stone walls felt like they were closing in again. Knowing that she was locked in with a giant set of steel jaws wasn't helping, either.

"It depends on whether we're above or below ground," Art said in a tone that suggested he was devising some sort of solution. Siku knocked lightly on the walls, causing a hollow, echoing sound.

"Above, it would seem," she said. "Why, does it it matter somehow?"

"Indeed it does, my friend Siku," Art replied. There was a brief silence, then the earsplitting sound of rock being crushed like a feeble twig. Suddenly stark light flooded in and the Weavile was almost blinded in contrast to the pitch darkness that had previously been her veil. "Because Rock Smash wouldn't do dirt if we were surrounded by several tons of earth and soil." Siku was unimpressed by Art's dirt pun, but still endlessly thankful he had known Rock Smash. If he hadn't they might have all starved to death, if they didn't suffocate first. He may have just single-handedly saved all of their lives.

"Ack! Who just made it so bright in here!?" A new, clearly flustered voice said. The Dark-type struggled to open her eyes against the light, managing to catch a glimpse of something small and orange. That must've been the furry thing Art had been talking about. A Victini, it would seem. Siku didn't know many Unova Pokemon, but in it's Legendary status even the most uncultured, holed-up creatures were likely to have heard of it one place or another. Regardless, there was one here now. "Hey! Hold on a second, this isn't Liberty Garden... this is... well, I actually have no idea." It looked at the smooth, blue Pokemon Siku had prodded earlier, who was miraculously still knocked out, then at Art, and lastly, at Siku herself. Suddenly his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped in horror. "I've been kidnapped! Help, someone! Please!" Art planted a firm foot on the Victini before it could get up, a look of annoyance clear on his face.

"_Shh!_ No one knows where we are, not even us, so the quieter we are the better. No use in aggravating whatever brought us here if it's still lingering around."

"Oh yeah, and how am I supposed to believe that when I'm only looking at the two most devious Pokemon known to the world." Siku smiled wryly, realizing he was right, but only shook her head at his accusation.

"As true as that may be, Art here is right. We know just about as much as you."

"What about him," the Victini said, pointing to the slick blue Pokemon. Siku had to admit, she had never seen that kind of Pokemon before. It could've been a shiny Lickilicky, but she was pretty sure shiny Lickilicky weren't blue, not to mention it was way to slim and lanky to be that kind of Pokemon, anyways. So maybe it _did_ know where they were. It was certainly worth a shot. She bent down and jabbed it a few times with her sharp claws, causing in to move a little with a faint groan, but not wake up with the energy she had expected nor desired. Meanwhile Art reluctantly let a seething Fire-type out from under his foot, who quickly sprang up and gave the Mawile a glare. Again Siku poked the frog Pokemon, this time hard enough to bring out a small drop of blood. That part had not been intended, but it certainly brought about the reaction she had wanted. This time it sprang up, straight into the rock ceiling, before crashing back down, fully awake.

"Hey, I- who are you?" It looked around for a moment, seeming to notice the rest of the ragtag group. "Who are any of you?"

"Well," Art said, "I'm Arthur, but I prefer Art. The kind Weavile who just mildly stabbed you is Siku, and this is... um..."

"Riley. Though some know me as Writer."

"Writer, is it now?" Siku said in a slightly flustered tone. "Let me guess. _Your_ name is probably 'Composer' or 'Sculptor,' am I right?"

"Gin," he simply. "And I'm still quite confused here." The Weavile felt her spirits drop. If that were so, he probably was just about as knowledgeable as the rest of them.

"So you don't know where we are?" Art said, looking up, dismayed.

Gin shook his head, but pointed to the whole in the wall. "If anything, if might help to actually _go outside_." A sudden feeling of stupidity washed over Siku. That should have been her first instinct, but she had been so wrapped up in other things it had been pushed to the back of her mind, oddly enough considering her initial freak out. Now was the time, if any time, though. As soon as she was out Art and Gin followed, but a still slightly shaken up Riley stayed reluctantly within the stone cocoon.

When she first stepped out, Siku was met with no clue as to where she was. This was no region she had ever heard of. She turned to Gin, figuring maybe he would know what this place was. "Hey Gin, where did you say you were from?"

"Kalos."

"Is this it?"

"No." Siku gulped. Not only were they all thrown here without any explanation, it was in a place no one had ever heard of.

"Hey Siku," Art said in a faint whisper. "I know this place seems weird, but look over there." He was pointing somewhere else, disbelief clear in his eyes. She trailed his finger to where it was pointing, and suddenly her belly did a flip: the area they were standing on, or rather the _island_, it would seem, appeared to steeply open into vast void beneath and around them, forming a small, floating land mass. Surrounding them were more of the floating islands, forming a loose archipelago in the air. Slowly she walked over to the side of their island, kneeling down and peering down. No end seemed to be in sight, just a never ending blue abyss. She backed away slowly, turning to the group again. By this time Riley had come out too, and all of them were watching her as she carefully stepped back inland. _Maybe they're expecting me to fall. Maybe they think we're all going to fall. I think that even I think I'm going to fall._ A shiver ran through Siku.

"Well," she said, "if it's not one of the regions we know, it must have a name of its own."

"I felt carvings in the stone place. Maybe it's there," Art suggested, turning to the now three walled box. She nodded, walking over and inspecting the area. At firs she saw nothing, just various patterns and shapes, along with several suspicious carvings of Rayquaza and Zygarde. But when she walked inside, she discovered many more interesting things. Unown of all kinds were etched crudely into the walls, as if down by some toddler scribe. Most of it was gibberish, but a few unnerving words like 'disaster' and 'fissure' stood out against the rest. Lastly, she turned to the back wall. The one her claw marks from earlier had rendered almost unreadable. She squinted to make out what appeared to be and actual sentence, but all she could read was a few strings of letters and words.

_"T... ba..tl.. of th.. ...s have re...er..d the dy...i..n of aeternus, a w..rld ..ore..er in ..ai.. F..ee, dear surv..vors"_

"Well, that's... off putting," Siku said, her normal tone of voice starting to return. "Guess I better tell the others we're in the Distortion World if it were at the same altitude as the Hall of Origin."


End file.
